Sorry to disagree, but NCL has an excellent kids program for kids young children's ages (say 2-10). The Spirit has some of the best children's facilities I have seen and is equal to Carnival or RCCL in my opinion. We are cruising on the Sun in March out of New Orleans. Take a look at the Spirit's kids facilities and their children's pool area which is far superior to Carnial's facilities on their brand new ships... I found the staff to be every bit as qualified too. You can't go wrong with any of these lines.

I have a related question about Norwegian - does anyone know if the kids program always runs no matter how many kids on board? For example, we just got back from a 13 night RCI cruise, and even though there were only 42 kids on board the kids camp still ran the full hours, they just combined some of the age groups.

We are working on booking our cruise for next year, and want to go with Norwegian since our son will be 2 for this one (we also have a 5 yr old) - but we are looking at 14 night cruise so I am thinking it won't have a ton of kids, and am wondering how that might affect the kids camp.

Yes I believe it does run. However, be aware that there are sign up deadlines for port days, so if you do not sign up your kids for the program prior to the deadline and no one else does, the staff will take the time in port off. Also be aware that NCL charges hourly for the kids club on port days which is different than many lines however that didn't bother me too much since you pay reduced tips for the kids on NCL, so it all kind of evens out. The 2 year old will love the kids club, be aware though that you will be given a beeper in the event the toddler needs a diaper change (if not already potty trained) you are required to come immediately and care for the diaper change.
Now this is one area where Carnival is a bit more accomodating than other lines (aside from Disney, but they are pricier) Carnival will babysit the one year old until noon on port mornings if I recall correctly and they also change diapers. They will give you a wireless phone or a pager and call you if needed, but only if its an issue they cannot address.

Yes, Beenie Weenie's insights on NCL and CArnival all are true -- CCL will change diapers of infants/toddlers while NCL will not. ALso, NCL does charge a fee for all kids in the youth prog. on port days -- most other lines don't do that.

They were 5 & 7 the time. Didn't take them on my RCCI cruise, but did observe a group of kids with one of the kids programs, they were around the 5-7 age group. They really got my attn when one of the workers told a little boy that if he didn't sit down, she was gonna throw him overboard and let the sharks have him. That really pi***d me off even though it wasn't my kid!
Mine can't wait for our Feb cruise specifically for the kids crew program!